43 Tasting Notes

Note: I believe I reviewed a version that came from a different source than the other reviews. What-Cha’s site said this year’s (2016) is from a different supplier, and I didn’t encounter the issues others had.

So, I was looking for a chocolatey tea, and this hits the spot. I managed to set off the fire alarm while making dinner, which meant my first pot of this steeped far longer than I’d intended. Despite this, no bitterness at all, just smooth and rich with a cocoa taste.

…and it goes better with frozen pizza than you’d expect.

I used 4 pearls for an entire pot of tea, and there was plenty of taste.

Interesting tea. It has a complex and strong scent to it, but the taste itself is somewhat bland to me. I can’t quite articulate what the scent is, except that I’ve smelled it before…I almost want to say mineral chocolate without there actually being any chocolate smell. Would that maybe be malt instead? It’s not earthy, it’s not nutty, it’s “not” many things…

I don’t know. It’s not a terrible tea, I just struggle in explaining what it IS, instead of what it ISN’T.

You know…I think the scent is similar to a cinnamon-tasting tea I had, except there’s not really a cinnamon taste to the tea. It’s has a similarity to the scent of a cinnamony tea I had, minus the cinnamon. But I suppose that’s another round of saying what this tea isn’t, instead of what it IS.

This’ll be my new puzzle as I try to figure it out in future steeps. I’m pretty sure it’s just because I haven’t had enough organoleptic training…

Preparation

An ok tea. I mistakenly got this thinking it was NOT flavored (it does not mention flavor as an ingredient on the site), but the label says it has flavoring in it. So I’m a bit disappointed in that.

Floral and creamy scent and taste. It’s a very mild, non-bitter, non-astringent tea. It does taste like there’s a bit of cream or milk in it, even though I only added sugar to mine.

It’s not a bad tea, but given there’s added flavor and the price is higher than other teas from this vendor, I probably won’t be getting it again once I finish the 50g I bought. It’s not quite the flavor profile I was looking for either…I wanted something that tasted “nutty” and this doesn’t quite get there.

Get this if you want something smooth, mild, and pleasant. It’s sort of like getting a hug from a well-mannered grandma.

Delicious. The other reviewers have already given reviews/tasting notes more eloquent than mine, so I’ll keep mine short. It’s a great tea, no bitter or astringent tastes at all even when I let it steep for forever in an effort to wring the last little bit out of the leaves, and smells and tastes like cocoa. It’ll be going on my “must buy” list for the future.

So, I got this Tie Guan Yin because I wanted to see how well it matched another Tie Guan Yin I’d had previously. I actually think What-Cha’s Ding Dong Oolong matches what I was looking for better, but not because THIS tea is bad.

The tea comes rolled into little dry balls. I made the mistake of adding too many to my teapot, and when I came back to look at it—leaves, leaves everywhere! Almost spilling out of my diffuser. The little balls had rehydrated into HUGE tea leaves. I felt a bit put-out I’d used too much, but I recovered the leaves and will use them for a second pot later…I’ll just use fewer of them. (Still surprised how big they are…two or three teaspoons of dry ended up being split between FIVE small teacups when I took them out to save for later.)

Anyway, the tea itself has a wonderful floral aroma. I steeped a little longer than I intended to…I was aiming for 2 minutes, I think it ended up 3 or 4. Didn’t harm the tea, it had no bad notes and no bitterness, just ended up stronger than I’d intended.

It’s a good tea. I use sugar with my tea, so I don’t know what it’s like without it, but it definitely matches the description—vegetal with sour finish. Not an unpleasant sour. And the floral smell/taste is great. It’s a bright, cheerful tea, if I can say that. :)

Preparation

I had this sitting around for a few months, and while looking through my stash for any samples I might have overlooked, I found this.

It was fine. Better than any teabag/grocery store tea, but not really memorable. I think I had too little in the sample to get a good taste…I greatly reduced water in my pot and sugar and while this tea wasn’t bad tasting, it didn’t really catch my attention. Maybe I should learn to brew by the cup for when I get small sample-sizes like I had of this. Maybe that would have helped? But as it is, neither pot I made really caught my attention.

Still rating it a 70, because there was no bitterness, no off-flavors…nothing worse than the crime of being a good tea that was unmemorable when compared to other good teas in its weight class. Still very drinkable.

Preparation

I really like this. I was alternating pots of tea (over the course of a few days) between this and What-Cha’s Assam Heritage Green Tea and the Taiwan Green Dong Ding Oolong, and this hit a good balance between the two of those. I use sugar in my tea, and this tasted like a bit like white chocolate to me. The package says “gentle nut tones” which I agree with. It’s a little bit savory, as opposed to floral or sweet or fruity, but it’s not at all astringent.

I think I’ll eventually add this to list of regular-buys.

Preparation

Got a sample of this with my order of mystery teas. I’ve made two pots of it. First obviously had most of the taste, and I definitely enjoyed it. Second is a bit weaker (expected as I didn’t start out with much tea) but still good. I like it.